A variety of alternatives to using cash may be used for paying for goods and services. Credit cards, debit cards, and smart cards may be used to pay for grocery purchases, retail purchases, gasoline purchases, restaurant purchases, etc. Transit cards may be used to purchase a ride on a mass transportation vehicle such as a bus or a subway train. Toll payment devices, sometimes referred to as toll tags, may be used to pay toll without stopping or slowing down at a toll booth, and/or pay for parking fees at airports. The ease with which these payment cards may be stolen and used for purchases of goods and services by someone other than the card holder or authorized proxies of the card holder, which may also be referred to as identity theft, makes payment card security an important subject. Various procedures for preventing improper use of these payment cards have evolved including requiring photo identification of the card holder, entry of a personal identification number (PIN), entry of the zip code of the billing address of the payment card holder, etc. To some extent, increased payment security to complete a payment transaction may consume more time of the user, may distract the user from an on-going social engagement with companions, and may cause embarrassment to the user, for example when the user cannot remember the PIN of the credit card and has to request another to pick-up the tab at a restaurant.
A portable electronic device may include an electronic wallet application, also referred to as an eWallet, that provides a variety of financial and payment capabilities. The electronic wallet application supports paying for products or services with the device in much the same way as presenting a credit card, a debit card, a smart card, a transit card, or a toll tag for payment. The portable electronic device may communicate with a point-of-sale (POS) terminal using contactless communication means, for example near field communication (NFC) technology, to provide the appropriate financial information to complete a payment transaction.